my favorite holiday

Eff politics. I'm over it. Unless McSame sneaks in somehow, then you'll have to hear me cry about it next week. Otherwise, I'm done with the topic.

It's HALLOWEEN!
Mikey found this pic that reminded me of the going-away Halloween Party at the old house. Unfortunately, some of you know exactly what I'm talking about....


This hasn't been a simple week so far, so I'm really looking forward to a little escapism tonight. Workstuff, homestuff, kidstuff... it's all been rather nuts recently.

The kids have been a bit out of whack all week, maybe b/c of the holiday, maybe not. Irritating either way. I got a copy of Kid1's midterm grades... if he doesn't get his ass in line those grades will be his LAST-term grades. No way I'm paying for classes that he won't earn credits for. Where the F did he inherit laziness and a crappy work ethic?

So I'm more than ready to get away from the stress and tension tonight.

The weekend is rather calm, too. We're going to my buddy's wedding Saturday, which should be a really good time. And the 'Skins don't play til Monday Night, so football Sunday will be less of a production, too. (btw - I'm pretty sure we'll wind up at the Hole for the Monday night game.)

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Leslie sent in the only way to carve a pumpkin without getting guts under your nails:

Another good halloween themed game, GhostScape.

Study the melons. I love melons. (Kinda, or definitely, NSFW, depending on which options you select.)

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Amazing cool creepy nasty pumpkin carving.

The simple costumes are the best costumes. The page is a little funky, but scroll all the way to the right to check out the graph of last year's best sellers.

Rock n roll guitar geeks, this site will claim your entire weekend.

More music stuff... from MTV no less. Shocked? Me too. They took the M out of TV a long time ago. This MTV site gets back to the goodness though. They're posting EVERY music video in their entire collection. No, I didn't verify their claim to EVERY, but I did click around a bit to find some old Headbanger's Ball material.

Always think twice before clicking send.

JBibby sent in a good set of retarded vids:
One
Two
Three

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ouch

Starting this post with Kim's PSA.

I'm so tired of the election already. Just a few more weeks. I'd rather lose my shoe on a telephone pole than to watch one more effing campaign ad...


This week has FLOWN past. I dunno where it went. It may have something to do with my 3-day buzz last weekend. We started Friday after dinner up to hang out for a minute at the Hole. I got toasty and she got tired, so she left me there. oops. We closed down GDays, then headed next door to close down Ned's 2 hours later. I was feeling mighty fine by the time I was dropped off at the house.

Bright & early Saturday morning we headed out west for the balloon & wine festival. I was drinking w/ John & Mike long before lunchtime, while the girls watched the kids and chatted about how stupid boys are. The day was gorgeous, the wine was flowing, and the people were great. WineDrunk is just so casual. We chatted with some old friends that we didn't know would be at the festival, and made a lot of new friends, too.

I took a nap on the way to dinner, then had a couple drinks, then took a nap on the way to a party, then had a couple drinks, then took a nap on the way home before finally laying down for a bit of rest. (Note: WineDrunks do not "pass out".... napping is much classier.)

Sunday was football day. Kudos to Chrispy for coming thru with tix to the Redskins game. I've got big man-love for him lately. And man-love to Seth, too, for introducing me to the proper way to tailgate at FedEx. We spent a few hours with a whole crew of good people, cooking up cheese steaks and onion rings. I'm DEFINITELY visiting Chez Mike again sometime in the future.

After a couple hours hanging at the grill, it was time to wander the parking lot. Craziness. I love it. We met the Art Monks, dressed in religious robes. We played cornhole. We spent some time down in the RV zone. We met the hip-hop school bus owners, and got a little tour of their digs. I got in trouble for yelling WITH the Cleveland fans against some a-hole inhospitable tards.

The seats were great, and most of our neighbors were awesome. Except the tea-totalling guy sitting to the left. He didn't seem as entertained as me and Chrispy. He would have been a lot less cranky if he'd could afford an $8 beer.

After the game, we got lost. Not turned around, or mis-directed. Lost. No effing clue where we were. Plus, we were out of beer. It was HELL. So we had to make new friends. Corvette guy and BMW chick. Corona guys. We even hung out with the nutcase OMFUG guys for a while. I still can't believe those drunk effers were the ones that saved our tails and helped us get back to base camp.

I left my jacket in the truck, Kristin stole my gloves, and I totally lost my hat. I didn't lose my cell phone though! (Remember Buffett? I don't.)

Besides all that, I've been working and schooling all week long. I'm heading out the door in a minute to start the weekend. Me & my sibs are all donating blood this afternoon, it's a whole family thing. We get to laugh and joke and irritate the crap out of the nurses who are way too serious.

Happy Weekend!

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This one proves that the gameplay is soooo much more important than the graphics.

Mikey found a classic Halloween game: cat bowling!

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My buddy Brent's 350z is for sale. For real.

I'm searching for this explanation, too. Totally not fair. We never had kid shows like these when I was growing up!

Denise's dream wedding.

Whoooohooooo! As soon as I retire, I'm blazing like California.

What with the embedded videos already...?
Unbelievable McCain Vs. Obama Dance-Off - Watch more free videos

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5 into 4

Ever seem to notice that a shortened week doesn't always coincide with a lighter workload? After taking the Monday holiday this week, I think I pinched at least 5.5 days of work into the remaining 4 days of the week. *sigh*

Yesterday I said to myself, "cool, tomorrow's Friday already!' Then about 10 minutes later, I said to myself, "Holy rat nuts, tomorrow's Friday already, and I'm nowhere near done with my workload." Fuggitall though, I'm done with this week, and the work will still be here on Monday.

My kid is heading home from school today. He's staying with his mom for a few days during Fall Break. His last class ends at 3pm, then he's hitting I-95 to get here in time for the HS Homecoming game. Kickoff is 730... balancing the fact that he's got to deal with Friday traffic with the fact that he usually averages just under 100mph, and he'll prolly get here just in time.

The rest of the kids are all with their other parents this weekend, so we've got a little bit of NoKid time available. M'Lady is doing dinner tonight with a few of her friends, and I've got plans to tip a beer or two at Glory Days. Not a lot of beers, though because tomorrow starts rather early. Dunno what else the evening has in store yet. NoKid weekends get a little random sometimes.

We're heading out to meet a few friends at the big wine tasting at Long Branch. The festival opens at 7am, and they've got all sorts of stuff planned thru the day: hot air balloons, classic car show, fair games and rides, and lots n lots n lots of wine. $10 to get into the festival, then all you can drink for another $10. I've never been WineDrunk before lunch. This'll be a whole new experience.

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mmmmmm.... beach volleyball. Well, almost; they are wearing bikinis. I still don't know what to think about the big impaling spike in the middle of the court.

If the campaigning hasn't scared you enough, Amanda found a game that just might help you visualize just how bad it would be.

Mikey got this to me just under the wire today. Silly little game with a Halloween theme.

Another classic, if you remember it. The Halloween theme is a stretch, and not everyone gets it. If you do it, the reward is sooooooo worth it.

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What sort of list do you expect when the weakest entry is the pig tail butt plug? NSFW

Upside down dogs. The name says it all.

I swear that I did not set the curtains on fire while having cybersex with Leslie!

Check out what made it on Jon's Christmas List.



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time to relax

So last weekend was my 20th HS reunion. I was on the organization committee, but really wasn't sure what to expect. How many people would show up, who changed, who stayed the same, cliques, stress.... the whole thing was a big unknown. We (the org committee) just wanted things to go smoothly.

It exceeded every possible expectation. LOTS of people came out for the event. We had people in town literally from all over the globe - Brian traveled from frickin' Germany for the party. Out of towners started arriving late last week, so we planned a happy hour for Friday afternoon. We started yapping, and "happy hour" turned into "closed the bar".

Saturday ran right in the same line. Cocktails and dinner started at 7pm, and ran straight thru til the ballroom closed at 11pm. Hotel bar was still open, so the party moved down there, til last call at 2am when we moved to the outdoor patio for Cheetos and a few more beverages. There were just too many stories to hear and not enough time to share them all.

I'm still rather confused about all the old people at the reunion. No effing way they graduated with me.

In other school news, I started back to class on WED night. Bleh. The two week break between summer and fall sessions just isn't enough. It was just the first class, so the time investment this week wasn't so bad, but I'm sure it'll be grinding away at me soon enough.

And while I'm just starting the semester, Kid1 is coming home in 8 days for his Fall Break. The scheds worked out really well for him b/c it's the same weekend as his HS homecoming.

This coming weekend is full, but everything is really low key. Tonight we're doing nothing but hang out with the kids a bit. Tomorrow daytime is a little BBQ / pig roast / family reunion thing. I'm hoping that the pig cooks fast, b/c I looooooooove me some hog jowls.

We're leaving the BBQ early to attend a wedding in the afternoon. I'm totally stoked for this wedding. More accurately, I'm stoked for the reception. I don't get to hang out with this group as often as I'd like to, so I enjoy it even more when we do get together.

Now while I'm doing the fam thing tomorrow, you all need to get out to SterlingFest to see Augur. They're on stage at 145. I'm gonna keep talking about these guys 'til you start listening, so start listening, dammit.

Sunday will be spent watching football at my sister's house. I mean, we're going for her birthday party, and just maybe might see a little football while we're there. I'm not sure why she wanted a birthday during NFL season, but that's the way it is. She didn't seem interested when I suggested changing the date to a more convenient time of year.

I so totally can't wait for the election to be over already. I'm tired of hearing this voice.


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I'm running low on game submissions. You slackers have been letting me down lately. I can't waste everybody's time without a little help from the monkeys. So get busy on it, k?

The samurai is cool, but the game runs kinda slow. I just want to keep on hacking and slashing.

Bloons mixed with Tower Defense. Not my bag.

I don't even know how to describe this game. You control the bouncing ball, and have to collect stars, and jump on the flying saucer heads. It's like one of those irritating cartoon songs with the red ball bouncing on the lyrics as the scroll across the bottom of the screen. Then gravity switches directions. huh?

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(giggle) (thanks denise & jon)


Jess found some creepy old ads.

I recognize the movie, but it seems they took out all the good parts. All that's left this crap:


Like you've never had a bar tab before? Right.

Effed up tatts. (The Clemson one is fake, here are the originals.)

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old guys rule

Quick thought, before I start rambling: The Redskins kicked a55 last weekend! Eff the 'boys!

Now that I've got that thought off my chest... my high school reunion is this weekend. I've been involved in the planning and coordination of everything, so I'm pretty stoked about it too. It's my TWENTY YEAR high school reunion. This didn't seem all that bad to me, until I made the connection that I've been out of school longer than I was actually in school.

I feel there's a lot I should have been able to get done in the past 20 years. I feel like I've been slacking. I got off to a quick start; faster than most people I think. By the time I was in my early twenties, I was married, three kids, had a career, a house, motorcycle, and a couple of new cars.

I left the house & wife, sold the cars & motorcycle, and changed careers. Basically, I hit the "go back to start" space. The giant red slide in "Chutes and Ladders". Take II is working out 1000x better, so I'm pretty happy with the way the cards were dealt.

The whole pattern and method of my life so far has been under review since I started chatting with all my old classmates. One guy just had his first kid. One girl is living in her mom's basement with her husband and two toddlers, b/c their house got repo'd. Somebody else recently got engaged.

I can't imagine starting things so late. I honestly have nothing to compare it to, b/c I only know about my own experience. But I'm really looking forward to Kids 2-4 graduating and going away to college. Kid 1 is already away at school as a sophomore. Heck, he's voting this year, which trips my mind even more than when he bought a car or left for school.

I borrowed my daughter's car all this week while I had a friend do some work on my truck. That just entertains me to no end. I did feel a bit awkward with the Tinkerbell seat covers and steering wheel wrap, but I survived.

I'll be 44 when the youngest graduates high school. My wife will only be 39. Then we're DONE. Out. Thanks, see ya, bye. The remaining decades are just for us, and I'm totally stoked about reaching that point. We've got a lot of grand plans, some of which are more realistic than the others. (I'm still wondering if she's just pulling my leg about installing the keg system when we build the new house.)

Reunion activities start in just over an hour. Kicking off tonight with a happy hour at Carpool. Dinner and late-night plans are in the works, but not defined yet.

Saturday has a few things in store during the day, then the 'official' reunion event is set up like a wedding reception. Hotel ball room, open bar, dinner, DJ... all that sort of stuff. Finally, Sunday has a brunch before everyone heads out of town and back to the real world.

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Jess found the new theme of the Friday Waster games on xkcd:


I love beer, drinking beer, making beer, and games about beer.

Yes, this is a re-run. But I had about a dozen people send it to me this week, so I'm upping it again. Enjoy, or hate it. http://fantasticcontraption.com/

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News in the neighborhood. Augur (band II from the block party) is playing SterlingFest on 11 October at 145. They put on a really good show for us, and now we need to come out and return these guys some love.

Tammy found a really cool birthday calendar app. I know, most of these suck. This one has a LOT of stuff that you really never wanted to know.

These guys are nuts. Or cool. Or both.

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